Back to School! Ua ho‘i i ke kula!
We are full of excitement and joy as we welcome back students and teachers for the 2023-2024 school year! Māla‘ai is celebrating our progress and stability, and we invite you to show your support with a Back to School gift. Every contribution helps Māla‘ai provide the green space, technical skillbuilds, and involvement in the Farm to School movement for our keiki (youth), kumu (teachers), kaiaulu (the greater community), and school partners throughout Hawaii Island. Hui hou, time to celebrate the return to school!
Together we have advanced Māla‘ai’s reach and deepened our work in significant ways. Mahalo for your investment in us. Here’s some highlights:
Over 300 students and 30 educators utilized the Mālaʻai Culinary Garden at Waimea Middle School in 2022-2023. The Culinary Garden continues to serve as a model school garden, serving keiki, families, and educators through our classes and programming.
This summer we hosted an educator reunion for Kū ‘Āina Pā, the HISGN educator training program which has trained over 300 kumu (teachers) in the past decade.
We also had 3 alumni students return to help out in the garden this summer! Check out their reflections in the videos below!
The Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network (HISGN), adopted by Māla‘ai’s in 2019, is revitalizing efforts to provide professional development, advocacy, mentorship, and technical assistance to over 60 school gardens across the state. In the last program year we provided over 200 hours of support to educators and teachers through trainings, one-on-one assistance, site visits and professional development.
Along with our statewide Hawai‘i Farm to School Hui, we continue to advocate for school gardens, agriculture education, and improved school food on the statewide level and recently released the Hawai‘i Farm to School Toolkit which offers easy ways to integrate farm to school education into regular school culture.
It takes a strong organization to hold up our programming. In the past five years, we transitioned executive leadership, hired new staff onto our team, and navigated the Covid-19 pandemic, all while continuing to respond to the increased needs of students and teachers.
Your support as we continue to build our operational capacity empowers us to serve keiki (youth), kumu (teachers), and kaiaulu (the greater community) with the highest quality programming possible.
Please join us and make a Back to School gift today! Our goal is to raise $10,000 by the end of September. Mahalo nui for your support. Every gift really makes a difference.
Ua ho‘i i ke kula!
Interested in other ways to give? Visit malaai.org/donate for information about donating via check, Donor-Advised Funds, and more.